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Premier Alliance, MSC, and TS Lines reveal early action against US tariffs
2025-04-09 09:00

Premier Alliance, MSC, and TS Lines reveal early action against US tariffs

by Destine Ozuygur •
Premier Alliance, MSC, and TS Lines reveal early action against US tariffs

In a major announcement yesterday afternoon, Premier Alliance partner ONE confirmed that they would be cancelling their upcoming Transpacific PN4 service that was due to start in May. While the service had faced postponement back since early December 2024 - the timing aligns precisely with the tariff related struggles that are heavy on carriers' minds. Our team has already updated our database and removed the string from the Q2 lineup. We also reported yesterday that our analysts confirmed TS Lines is suspending their AWC2 Transpacific service, their only direct China to USA string.

There may not be an incredibly dramatic onslaught of blanks headed our way in May just yet, but the numbers are growing - there are currently 49 blank sailings forecasted on the Far East - North America trade in April and a total of 36 in May. We can realistically expect to see those numbers reach 40+ in May as carriers firm up plans for capacity cuts in the weeks ahead.

Earlier this morning, long-term schedules allowed us to confirm an additional two blank sailings on the MSC - Orient. The weekly service which calls Long Beach, Oakland, and Portland additionally replaced slots 4 and 6 with TBN's for the forseeable future - approximately halving the capacity that we can expect from this 10.6K TEU service in next 8 weeks. Schedules for the similarly sized MSC - Pearl service that also calls Long Beach and Oakland just revealed another blank in April and two more TBN's on the vessel lineup in May.

Last but not least, it may just be speculation but we are keeping a close eye on Premier's PS5 service, calling Los Angeles and Oakland. Like her sister the PN4, her commencement dates were pushed back to May in ONE's announcement from December. Same as with the PN4 up until yesterday's announcemnt, she is also still starkly absent of any definitive vessel assignments with less than one month to go.

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